Trump blames “radical left” for Charlie Kirk murder

In an address to the nation broadcast live from the Oval Office, President Trump reacted to the murder of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk, shot dead at an event on a Utah campus just hours earlier.

President Trump said Wednesday that rhetoric from the “radical left” contributed to the shooting death of his close ally Charlie Kirk, and he promised to find those responsible for political violence, as well as the “organizations that fund it and support it.”

— The New York Times (@nytimes.com) 2025-09-11T10:25:06.678362Z

The “radical left”

Describing the act, in his words and rightly so, as “a dark moment for America”, Donald Trump went on to accuse the “radical left” of fueling a climate of violence by “demonizing those with whom you disagree with”.

“It’s high time all Americans and the media realized that violence and murder are the tragic consequence of demonizing those with whom you disagree.”

He cited as examples the assassination attempt against him and the forwards against ICE agents, while himself embodying, according to several observers, the polarization he claims to denounce:

“It’s long past time for all Americans and the media to confront the fact that violence and murder are the tragic consequence of demonizing those with whom you disagree day after day, year after year, in the most hateful and despicable way possible.”

Once again refusing to acknowledge that political violence affects both sides, Trump cites as examples attacks on himself and his own party, which he attributes to the “radical left”.

“From the attack on my life in Butler, Pennsylvania last year, which killed a husband and father, to the attacks on ICE agents, to the vicious murder of a healthcare executive in the streets of New York, to the shooting of House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and three others, radical left political violence has hurt too many innocent people and taken too many lives.”

Violence on both sides

Yet the president seems oblivious to the attacks suffered by the other side.

In 2018, several Democratic figures, including Obama, Clinton, Biden and Harris, were targeted by package bombs sent by a radicalized Trump supporter.

Since 2020, several Democratic figures have also been targeted by individuals driven by strong political polarization:

Gretchen Whitmer was the target of a kidnapping plot in 2020, Paul Pelosi was violently attacked with a hammer at his home in 2022, Angie Craig was attacked in her apartment building in 2023, Melissa Hortman was killed with her husband in a shootout targeting several Democratic elected officials in 2025, and Josh Shapiro survived an arson attack set at his official residence while sleeping there with his family that same year.

“For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals,” Trump adds.

The president concludes by promising that his administration will hunt down the guilty:

“My Administration will find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence, including the organizations that fund it and support it, as well as those who go after our judges, law enforcement officials, and everyone else who brings order to our country.”